Jul 8, 2026
Westdeutsche Zeitung zum Leseabend
Love Letters from the Front to Krefeld
By Michaela Plattenteich
When Hanno Ketterer received a box of letters from his grandfather's estate, letters the older man had written as a soldier in the Second World War, he had no idea what he might find in them. In the letters that Karl Krug wrote to his wife Grete, there is much talk of love and hope, in a time that should have been anything but dark. Hanno Ketterer, who had known his grandfather and remembers him as a friendly and quiet man, discovered entirely new sides of a personality here. From the letters and family photographs, Ketterer, who is himself artistically active, created a book titled "Love Letters from the War," which appeared last year. Supplemented by his own photographs, drawings and a short film, it has grown into a genuine art project that has also been presented internationally.
But the roots lie in Krefeld, and so at the Villa Merländer there was now an event to experience in which the letters above all took center stage. What could be better suited to such a presentation than a reading with professional actors. Paula Emmrich and Michael Grosse of the Theater Krefeld Mönchengladbach breathed life into these texts with great sensitivity, drawing them into the present in equal measure. Michael Grosse had the more rewarding part, since he was able to deliver the original texts, while for Paula Emmrich only the connecting passages remained, which briefly summarized the content of the letters. The reason is that only five of Grete's letters survive. The others were presumably lost, since Karl was constantly on the move on the Eastern Front.
The letters span a period of two years, from the spring of 1943 to the end of the war in 1945. "We must be patient," he writes to his wife, about whom he worries when he hears of the heavy air raids in the Rhineland. His own situation, such as a long stay in a military hospital where his jaundice has to be treated, he tries by contrast to portray as more harmless than it is. When he is assigned to guard duty, he uses that time to be, in his thoughts, with his wife and his little daughter Gisela. He also boldly questions the sense behind certain orders. Self-critically, he notes a certain numbing toward the suffering he is made to witness. Yet he does not resign himself to it, but instead reflects intensely on his thoughts and his actions. There are thoroughly humorous passages too, such as when he works out, down to the minutes and even seconds, how long he has already known his wife. The mood also tips quickly back into melancholy, as he becomes aware that the separation has already lasted a long time and that a reunion is uncertain.
Yet against all these thoughts the letter writer sets the hope of coming through it all. For him it is a struggle for the survival of his own world, "our own world," as he writes. It is moving to hear how this man, who finds himself in an extreme situation that could end fatally at any moment, summons the strength to offer his family at home words of encouragement.
A very personal, if not indeed delicate episode is one that perhaps did not absolutely have to be published. In quarters that he takes up with his comrades, he is fascinated by the innkeeper's daughter. She stirs longings in him, which he at once projects onto his wife. The openness with which he writes about this is remarkable; with his wife it does not go over so well.
While Karl lost all the comrades of his unit, in the end things turned out well for him. After the capitulation in May 1945 he was briefly held as an American prisoner of war, and in early July he returned home in good health. His daughter Gisela, who was present in the audience, remembers that the friendly man who brought her a piece of chocolate was completely a stranger to her. Her mother, she notes, never spoke about the letters, but passed them on within the family. Only in the hands of the grandson have they become a living and important document of their time. His short film, which artfully combines letter texts with historical photographs and newly created images, brought this successful event to a close.
Ketterer / Book: More information about the author and his book "Love Letters from the War" can be found online: hannoketterer.com, kehrerverlag.com